Live on the Other Side of “Yes”

One of my all-time favorite words is only three letters long. It’s a simple word to learn, but a difficult word to master because it has the power to create life as well as diminish it.

It’s the word, YES.

I love the word yes because of the possibilities it contains.Yes is permission. Yes is potential. Yes is momentum, and excitement, and the gateway to growth. The key is saying yes to things that are healthy.

Not too long ago I cast vision to a group of leaders. There were several people in the room listening as I talked about the possibilities of partnership, and how joining together could make a significant difference in the world.

After speaking to the group at large, I met with a handful of those leaders in private. We were in the green room, and the conversation turned to the possibilities of partnership and pushing a little deeper on the details.

I’ll never forget how, as the energy in the room began to
build, one of the leaders stood up and said, “John, the answer is yes. Count me
in. Whatever this means, I am a yes.”

With that one declaration, the room exploded, and everyone
jumped onboard with the vision. After things died down, I pulled that leader aside
for a chat. After thanking him for his positive commitment, I had to ask: “What
made you respond so boldly?”

He answered: “I live on the other side of yes. That’s where I find abundance and opportunity.”

I loved his phrase—“I live on the other side of yes”—so much
that I included it in my chapter on the Abundance Shift in new book, Leadershift: 11 Essential Changes Every
Leader Must Embrace. I think it’s an absolutely brilliant way to talk about
leading out of a creative mindset, and it offers some practical habits that
help all of us live more abundantly.

If you’re ready to “live on the other side of yes” and
embrace creativity and abundance, you’ll need to:

Imagine Opportunities
are Everywhere

Everything that humanity has created first existed in
someone’s imagination. Ideas and innovations don’t spring out of the ground;
they have to be wrestled into existence out of the mind.

If you want to super-charge your imagination, develop the
habit of asking great questions, spending time with sharp people, and taking
action to create momentum. Opportunities are like rabbits—you get a couple, learn
to handle them properly, and pretty soon you have a dozen!

Prepare for
Opportunities

Coach John Wooden used to say, “When opportunity comes, it’s
too late to prepare.” I love that quote because it reminds me to work as hard
as I can, learn as much as I can, connect with others as often as I can, and
build a team as well as I can, to ensure that I’m ready when opportunity
knocks.

The same is true for you. You never know when the door of
opportunity is going to open wide, but those who become successful are ready
when it does!

Activate Current
Opportunities

Søren Kierkegaard is famous for saying, “Life can only be
understood backwards, but it must be lived forward.” You could say the same
thing about opportunities—we see them once they’ve passed us by, but the ones
we need are still in front of us!

Leaders should look for the doors in front of them, the moments and opportunities that present themselves to us today. If we activate those opportunities and keep pursuing them, we will eventually create what I call success momentum.

A life of creativity can be yours, but only if you move past fear and learn to seize the opportunities in front of you.

Slipping free from our comfortable no and living on the other side of yes is the best way to make the necessary shift to abundance.

Related

14 Comments

Steven Bradshawon January 22, 2019 at 9:27 pm

John,
That was awesome! Each article or book I read from you makes me feel so appreciative of all the wisdom you have and so freely give to others. Thank you for all your years of dedication towards leadership and the wisdom you so freely give.

I love this saying “Live on the Other Side of Yes”. I am a young business owner of LaVida Massage Colorado Springs. I retired from the Navy in 2007 and purchased franchise in 2015. I love reading, learning and dialoguing with those that have come before and those that come after. The greatest challenge that I have is with my associates (staff). Massage therapist are a different breed and lack the business acumen to be successful in a team environment or service industry for that matter, but I bound and determine to grow my business and those that are willing to Live on the Other Side of Yes. I have so much to say, but I need a real person to dialogue with. So for now I will leave it here…..Have a Wonderful Day!

Since I started reading your books, my life spin. What I have accomplished now and will still accomplish in the future is a product of what you have just shared “live on the other side of yes”. Please keep on inspiring others through your talks and books in order for this world a happy place to live in. Thank you.

John, thank you for this great article! I was so very lucky to have a wonderful mentor while in graduate school at The Ohio State University. He taught us to always say “YES” and figure out how to make it happen. As he stated, “…opportunities never come around again, you have to grab it…”. I am now the Executive Director of a nonprofit in Columbus, working with mature job seekers in their employment search. This is a message I try to pass along to them also

I’m going to pass this on to my young relatives who so often are afraid to say YES!

I got some inputs when I read prepare for oppurtunities. It is excellent quote that when oppurtunities comes it will be too late to prepare which gives new energy to work hard , learn more, buildig team spirit, enhancing the teachable spirit with in me . with regards

The day I missed a great opportunity through a ‘NO! was the day I understood the power of YES.

I was 11 and a friend of my dad offered me to quick flight in his small private airplane.
I was delighted as I stepped in the small aircraft and even more whilst we were buzzing around 700 feet above the ground.

Then I heard something blurry coming from the pilot and I said “No, thank you”, not really understanding what the question was.

Back on the ground the pilot kindly asked me why I did not want to carry on and do some acrobatics in the air. I realised immediately what I had missed by saying ‘NO’.

Not all opportunities that present themselves are obvious, and Some YES’ will generate bumpy paths. But mostly YES’ come with great rewards

I just LOVE the word ‘YES’, when others say it and even more so when I live it!

I am a person that says “yes” to many things! At some point saying yes can be overwhelming and no as productive because your energy is now being pulled from various places.
How do you decide which is best? Do you really always say yes? When do you know when to say no?
By saying yes- you somewhere have to say no- to other things. And sometimes saying no- leaves space and freedom to say yes to other things.
I’m still trying to figure it out 😉 Thanks!